The Beatles 50 years ago today: August 11, 1964 (Tuesday)

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

A Hard Day's Night had been out just two weeks when the Beatles began recording another LP, in keeping with the formula of two albums per year, the second aimed at the Christmas sales market. This one would remain untitled until the release date was in sight, eventually being named Beatles For Sale.

The group began and completed John's "Baby In Black" within this time, taping 14 takes and then making 13 separate attempts at perfecting the song's twangy opening guitar notes (none of which was chosen for the finished version).

Before recording, the Beatles were filmed in performance positions by BBC television cameras for an insert into Top Of The Pops.It mattered not what song they were singing for this was a "wild track" shoot, a collection of mute images onto which a disc recording, in this instance of "A Hard Day's Night", could be overdubbed for TOTP broadcast.

Although the shooting was completed, the film was never screened because the BBC then clashed with Brian Epstein over the size of the group's fee, and the footage was later junked.